Summary
Stylish, sly, and buoyed by Jodie Foster’s impeccable French debut, this may not break new ground, but it’s a thoroughly enjoyable twist on the Euro-noir comfort watch.
One of the big drawcards for Rebecca Zlotowski’s VIE PRIVÉE (A Private Life) is unquestionably Jodie Foster, making her debut in a French-language role. Yet there’s broader appeal here too. While the film may entertain more than it surprises, it’s a throwback European thriller, with just enough light comedy mixed into the noir to almost qualify as a cosy crime caper.
Foster plays psychiatrist Lilian Steiner, a woman of cool reserve who records her sessions on an outdated MiniDisc player. Her personal life is less tidy: she has a strained relationship with her adult son and her ex-husband Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil). When Paula (Virginie Efira), a long-term client, fails to show up for an appointment, irritation gives way to shock. Paula has died, and her death has been ruled a suicide.
Lilian is rattled, not least because Paula’s grieving husband (Mathieu Amalric) seems to blame her. But soon Lilian begins to suspect foul play. Together with Gabriel, she embarks on a strange journey through the clues Paula left behind—missing tapes, buried secrets, and the cryptic suggestions of a hypnotist who believes the answers may lie in past lives.
Zlotowski’s script, co-written with Anne Berest (Valiant Hearts) and Gaëlle Macé, has plenty of twists and turns, though discerning viewers may find few real surprises. At times, it feels as if they’re ticking off a checklist of genre touchstones: a Roeg-esque girl in a red coat, a dash of early Verhoeven, a Hitchcockian flirtation with duality and déjà vu. Yet even if the film isn’t breaking new ground, it’s still a compellingly watchable mystery, bolstered by its sly tone and stylistic flair.
The tonal shifts in the film’s back half aren’t handled as well. Audiences who sat stone-faced through a hypnosis-induced flashback were audibly cracking up when Lilian later recounts it to her son’s family. Which brings us back to the cast, without whom none of this would quite work. Foster is flawless in any language, and she makes a pitch-perfect double act with Auteuil.
Some may feel let down by the denouement, which comes in a flurry of revelations and convenient connections. It may fit the character’s arc, or perhaps it’s intended as a final winking joke, But if so, some of that may have been a little lost in translation. Still, if this is the beginning of a series of mysteries (Nights in Normandy?), I’d happily sign up for more.
2025 | France | DIRECTOR: Rebecca Zlotowski | WRITERS: Rebecca Zlotowski, Anne Berest, Gaëlle Macé | CAST: Jodie Foster, Virginie Efira, Mathieu Amalric, Daniel Auteuil | DISTRIBUTOR: Sydney Film Festival 2025, Transmission Films | RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 4-15 June 2025 (SFF 2025)
